Great Way Weekly

This summer has been hot! Often uncomfortably hot. And humid.

Though I’ve been sweating with everyone else, I can’t complain. I feel warm down to my bones, which is something we don’t get a lot of in Boston.

I’ve been celebrating the heat by spending as much time outside as possible. For me, that usually means some sort of activity, mostly walking and biking. I feel like I’m banking some sunshine energy to get through our long, dark winter. For me, this is how I find a healthy balance for living in the cold climate.

One of my recent walks took me past the fountain at the Christian Science plaza. I’m not sure my photo captures the joy of that moment because you can’t hear the happy sounds of children and adults cooling off on a hot day. I spent many summers playing in sprinklers in my suburban back yard, but city kids don’t usually have back yards. I love that Boston has this fountain, and other water parks like it for children to splash around in so they don’t miss out on this special summer treat.

I gave myself last weekend off–with July 4 on Sunday, I knew my practice would be slow, so I decided to take Friday and Sunday off. I love being active in the city, so I planned to do a different fun thing for each day.

I did a few hours of paperwork in my office in Davis Square on Friday, which was O.K. because I spent the afternoon biking the Minute Man Bike trail from Somerville to Lexington.

It was a beautiful day, and I hung out for a spell in Lexington.

Saturday’s activity was a walk from Central Square, up Main Street and over the Longfellow bridge into Boston.

My destination was Boston harbor.

Sunday morning was yoga with David at South Boston Yoga. It was super sweaty! We sweat more and more easily in the summer because our body’s energy (or “qi”) is up at the surface so it can open and close the pores and keep us cool. Which is what sweating is–your body keeping you cool.

Since I had spent so much time outside, I decided to give myself an soothing blueberry antioxidant mask to repair my skin from all the sun exposure. Here’s my recipe. The quantities are approximate–the goal is to have a smooth and creamy mask with a medium-thick consistency. It should be easily spreadable but not runny.

You should always patch test any home made beauty products before you smear them all over your face.

Antioxidant blueberry facial mask

1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp honey
a few drops of Vitamin E (optional)
1-2 tbsp cosmetic clay of your choice (I used Betonite clay).

Combine first three ingredients in a blender and blend well. Pour blueberry/yogurt mixture into a bowl, and stir in clay a little at a time until desired consistency is reached.

To use: Spread thin layer of mask onto clean skin. Relax for 5-10 minutes. Rinse.

I just got back from a short trip to NYC where I took this super-fun yoga class called Anti-Gravity yoga. Om Factory Yoga in midtown has a small room full of about 15 yoga “swings” or “hammocks” that hang from the ceiling and the entire class is taught in the swings.

It was a two hour class, and we spent a lot of time hanging upside down in various positions, including forward folds and backbends. I worked up a sweat eventhough it was not at all like an active, vinyasa class. One woman got a little queasy with all of the upside down time, but I felt great. Nothing was sore after class, and I didn’t feel tired. I felt energized, relaxed and stretched-out.

Though I only took this one class, I really liked the studio, and will definitely try to return on my next visit to NYC.

I work on a lot of tennis elbow in my acupuncture practice. One problem with resolving tennis elbow with acupuncture is that people have to go out in the world and continue using their arm, even before it’s fully healed. So we often have a two-steps-forward-one-step-back experience. That’s why I’m always looking for more ways to help my patients.

Adding some exercises can speed up the healing process. Take a look at this promising, low-impact, non-surgical treatment for tennis elbow recently posted in the New York Times Well blog. It involves a series of exercises with a flexible rubber bar, like in this video:

Read more at the New York Times.